When I became interested in somatic practices like the Feldenkrais Method and the Alexander Technique, I devoured everything I could read about them. Somatics was one of the first I read, and it introduced me to the work of its author Thomas Hanna. That it’s still in print these many years later suggests I’m not the only satisfied reader.
But it was another of Hanna’s books that really grabbed my attention, The Body of Life. Hanna clearly described a number of case studies using the somatic work he had learned, but the book really opened my eyes to the pioneers of this sort of discipline, in particular Moshe Feldenkrais. But there was also a chapter on Jean Ayers, an occupational therapist who developed a way of working with children whose problems Ayers contended were a result of difficulties in processing sensory information. The idea, if I’m remembering accurately, is that difficulties in integrating sensory information in the nervous system causes perception, movement, coordination and behavioral problems.
Ayers has since passed on, but others have taken up the sensory processing/integration cause, and new generations of frustrated parents seek out their help. That hasn’t exactly been front page news, but two recent articles in the mainstream press have put it back into the spotlight. In Hacking My Kid’s Brain, Mark Woodman tells the story of his son Caleb’s behavioral issues and treatment at the Sensory Learning Program in Boulder, Colorado. And it turns out to be a fairly touching story, with Caleb showing many improvements, even maintaining them three months after the end of his Boulder sessions.
In The Disorder is Sensory we get the New York Times comprehensive overview of the field and a few well-placed anecdotes. Writer Benedict Carey tells us that the idea of sensory integration problems as the root of behavioral problems has started to catch on among parent’s groups and the like at local school districts. And that there’s a strong desire to make this an “official” diagnosis and treatment of mainstream medicine. There’s even a petition in front of the American Psychiatric Association to include sensory processing disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. But that decision is years away, and not everyone in the medical establishment is on board with the idea.
Carey cites a few current studies that support the idea that these kids really are different, they really do have problems that could respond to new forms of treatment or therapy. But the research is pretty sparse:
“We don’t have as much data as we’d like, but honestly, I’ve been at this for 33 years, and it’s just nice to see some solid, experimental data,” Dr. Miller said. “We desperately need more, and for that we need money.”And that’s the rub, one that puts up some pretty stiff barriers for alternative approaches to gaining more than minimal acceptance. That is, you need money to do research to prove your approach is solid, but to get the money, you need solid research under your belt.
It’s frustrating, to say the least. But in the meantime, kids like Caleb are at least getting some of the help they need.